Frog Nights
by madnorthnorthwest
Summary: As Mulder reads his horoscope that tells him he's going to meet the woman of his life today, he watches out for her carefully. Maybe not carefully enough?
1. The Woman of Your Life

**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Frog Nights**

Chapter 1: The Woman of Your Life

„What a crap!"

The dim green light that came from the fish tank illuminated his face and made it look a little spooky. Fortunately, there was no one there to see it. At the moment, the fish tank was the only source of light in the room. The curtains were still drawn and the lights were off. Reading the newspaper under these circumstances didn't seem to bother him. He was used to it.

Normally, Fox Mulder didn't read horoscopes and now he remembered why. He reached for the cold coffee that was standing on the table in front of him and took a sip. He nodded contented as he perceived its bitter taste on the back of his tongue and took another sip. The cold coffee didn't seem to bother him either. He placed it back on the table and then read his horoscope for today again. Just because it was so damn funny and absurd, of course. Otherwise he didn't give a damn about it.

_Today is a good day for you! The woman of your life will burst through your door with good news and you'll go on a journey together. Later today she'll confess that she cannot stop thinking about you. She'll invite you to dinner and you'll spend the night together in a land of love. Not even minor interruptions can disturb your night-time plans. It's going to be an exhausting night. And remember: All that glisters is not gold!_

"crap!", Mulder repeated and threw the newspaper on the table. He stretched his arms and his legs and saw that the fish in the tank swam up and down close to the surface of the water, full of expectation. So he stood up and fed them. Hungry as a hunter the fish lunged at the tiny flakes that spread out in the water. Mulder observed them for a while, then he had a look at his watch and let out a small sound of displeasure.

"See you later guys!", he whispered to the fish and got ready for work. Then he grabbed the newspaper on the table and left.

About 20 minutes later he was already leaning back in his chair in his little basement office, his legs stretched out on the desk with the newspaper next to his feet. He wasn't exactly doing anything, just staring at the door with his arms behind his head and a suspicious look on his face. He stayed like this for 10 more minutes. Then he frowned and whispreder to himself: "Alright, so where is this 'woman of my life'?"

He had just finished the sentence when the door swung open and his partner Agent Dana Scully jumped in.

"Good news, Mulder!", she exclaimed effusively enthusiastic or probably rather ironically and smiled.

In a fit of surprise, Mulder sat up straight and said without much interest: "Oh, it's you, Scully."

Then, without waiting for a reply, he adopted the previous position again.

Scully stepped closer, looking at him in a strange way and said in a voice as if he was insane: "Why? Who are you expecting, Mulder? What are you doing there?"

She walked around the desk and tried to follow his eyes. There was nothing to see.

"Well", he explained cool. "I'm watching out for the woman of my life!"

"You're what?", Scully asked in disbelief, now looking as if she was ready to call a mental hospital.

"I read my horoscope today.", Mulder continued. "It says that I'm going to meet the woman of my life today."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! It's right there, see?"

He pointed at the newspaper on the desk next to his feet. Scully frowned and reached for it. For a moment it was silent while she read the horoscope and Mulder kept staring at the door.

"Funny!", Scully commented and put it back on the desk. "You don't believe this nonsense, do you?"

He shook his head: "Not until the 'woman of my life' steps through that door."

He emphasized the words 'woman of my life" in a strange way.

"Alright!", Agent Scully announced, took a chair from the corner and sat down next to her partner.

"What are you doing?", he wanted to know.

"I want to see her, too."

Together they sat there for another 15 minutes, until A. D. Skinner came in. Puzzled, he looked at the two FBI agents, who didn't move at all. They just stared in his direction, concentrated and silly. They seemed to look right through him. Skinner turned around to see what they were looking at. As he didn't see anything he turned to them again and asked: "What the heck are you doing there? You should be on your way to Ohio!"

He focused on Scully: "Agent Scully?"

As if she had not noticed her boss before, she jumped up and said: "Ohio, Sir. Yes I know. We were just….oh well, never mind. We'll leave right away. You could say we're already on our way, Sir."

"Okay then."

He came over to the desk and Mulder finally took his feet off of it.

"However, since you're still here. I can give you this in person", Skinner announced and placed a file in front of them.

"What is that?", Mulder questioned without having a look at it.

"I don't know. Something you've asked for at the Computer Intrusion Section."

He remembered, nodded and thanked the Assistant Director.

When Skinner had left, Mulder looked at Scully and asked: "Oh, what was the good newsyou wanted to tell me about?"

"Well it was this case Skinner just mentioned."

She smiled a forced smile.

"Loveland, Ohio. After an accident on Riverside Road near the Little Miami river, in which a married couple died, an officer from Loveland reported that he saw a frog-like creature about 3 and a half feet tall with leathery skin and wrinkles on its head. Also, it stood on its hide legs and disappeared into the river when he approached it."

While she was talking, Mulder jumped up and walked over to the file drawers where all the X-Files were stored.

"Sounds like the Loveland Frog or the Loveland Monster, whatever you want to call it."

"You've heard of this thing?"

"Sure", he took out a file, searched a little, then reported: "There are two important sightings: On 3 March 1972, a police officer was driving on Riverside Road at around 1 o'clock in the morning, when he saw what looked like a dog on the road. He pulled over, and as he shone his headlights on it, it suddenly stood up, jumped over the guardrail, and went down the embankment into the Miami River. The officer described the creature as being 3-4 feet tall, about 50-75 pounds, with a frog or lizard-like face and leathery skin. He called the dispatcher and returned to the station. He and another officer returned to the scene later that night, where they saw scrape marks on the hill going into the river. No official report was filed.  
The second sighting occurred only two weeks later. Another police officer was driving into Loveland, when he saw an animal on the road. Thinking that it was an animal hit by a car, he stopped to move it. It suddenly stood up, but in a crouched position; then hobbled over to the side of the road, stepped over the guardrail, while keeping his eyes on the officer. The officer then shot at it but missed. His description matched that of the first officer, only he may have seen a tail. Again, no report was filed.  
There are some more sightings like the one on May 1955 of three strange bipedal creatures with frog-like features and Mrs. Johnson's encounter on 21 August 1955, where something with a claw-like hand under the water grabbed her knee while she was swimming in the Ohio River in Evansville, Indiana. It tried to drag her under water but she could fight off the attacker. But it left some scratches and a green palm print on her knee."

Mulder quickly closed the file theatrically and put it back into the drawer.

"Alright then", Scully said. "Let's go. I'm really sorry that it didn't work with the woman of your life."

Mulder followed her out the office.

"Who knows, I mean, _Loveland_ sounds like the perfect place to meet 'the woman of your life'. So maybe I'll meet her in Loveland."

"Maybe...maybe."


	2. Westward

Chapter 2: Westward

Halfway to Ohio, the two agents stopped at a gas station in order to buy something to drink. There was a young, beautiful woman behind the counter in the small store at the gas station. She had dark hair and a small but well shaped mouth. Mulder was obviously interested in her. He gazed at her for a while, then he went over to pay for the drinks.

"That's one dollar thirty, please", the well shaped mouth said.

Mulder fumbled out his wallet and searched for money while Scully was waiting in the background.

"Just a moment", he excused himself like a schoolboy.

"Mulder?", Scully called from the door since it took him so long to pay for two sodas.

"Just a minute. I think I…."

He finally found what he was looking for and handed the money to the young woman.

"Exactly one thirty."

"Thank you, Sir."

Mulder took the two cans, looked at her and said: "Do I know you from somewhere?"

It was a humble attempt to hit on her. Scully raised an eyebrow and watched the scene with suspicious eyes.

"Your dreams maybe", the woman replied while taking the money straight-faced.

Mulder however, looked staggered. He turned around as if he was looking for help. But Scully had quickly gone outside.

He turned back and stuttered: "That is…I mean I am…"

He paused and tried to gather himself.

"Good bye!", he just said then and hastily walked out the door.

Outside, Scully looked at him very honestly then just said: "Wow!" and started to giggle like a little girl.

"What?", Mulder replied as if that hurt him and added: "She wasn't my type anyway."

It was late afternoon and a cool wind blew when Mulder and Scully met with the local Sheriff in Loveland to inspect the site where the accident had happened.

"This is where it happened", the Sheriff announced.

They were standing in the middle of the road and at first sight nothing indicated that there had been an accident.

The two agents searched the ground. There were minor skid marks, that was all.

"The driver obviously stopped but it was probably too late because the car left the road right here."

The sheriff walked to the side of the road, following the way the car must have taken.

"And then they went down the embankment right into the river. And that's where we found them."

Mulder nodded and asked: "When did you find them?"

"Well, it must have happened between 10 PM on Monday and 1 AM on Tuesday because at around 10 PM on Monday Officer Andrews drove down Riverside Road and he didn't see anything. Three hours later he drove back the same way and saw this…._thing_ on the road. It lay there, right where the skid marks end. He stopped to have a look, he thought it was an animal and that it had been injured. But when he approached it, it suddenly stood up and hobbled down to the river. When following it he spotted the car in the water and called for help. But as I said, it was too late, we could only recover their bodies."

"Did somebody perform an autopsy?", Scully asked.

"Oh, yes. Bobby Morris, the man who drove the car, used to drink a little too much. So we thought that maybe he drank that night. But he didn't. Not a glass."

"May I have a look at the documents?"

Sheriff Westward looked at her with questioning eyes.

"I'm a medical doctor", Scully explained and he smiled.

"Oh really? Yes, of course. We can drop by when we're done here."

"What about that Officer Andrews? I would like to talk to him", Mulder remarked.

"No problem. I can take you there now."

The Sheriff looked at Scully and added: "I mean, after you've seen the autopsy results, of course."

Officer Andrews was a tall man who obviously loved his job. There were more pictures of himself and his colleagues in the house than of his wife and children. Otherwise he represented the typical small town resident and even had the US flag in his yard.

"Alright Officer Andrews", Mulder began his first question. "Can you tell us what exactly you saw out there on Riverside Road?"

Brian Andrews nodded slowly which demonstrated that he was trying to remember.

"Well, I suppose Charly already described everything pretty well", he began referring to Sheriff Westward. "However when I drove down the road at 1 AM and saw that animal on the street, I thought it was hit by a car and wanted to have a look. At least I thought it was an animal. But when I came closer I wasn't so sure anymore. It looked like a frog with its green leathery skin and such but it was a lot taller. I reached for my gun and wanted to get closer but all of a sudden it stood up on its hide legs and got away. If you want to know what I think, Bobby saw this…whatever it was on the road and tried to evade it. Unfortunately he and his lovely wife ended up in the river. I just can't understand why he did not run over this creature."

Scully, who had listened carefully, suddenly interfered. The autopsy results had confirmed what Sheriff Westward had said. There was no alcohol in Bobby Morris' blood. Nor in Melinda's, Bobby's wife. But something else had attracted Scully's attention.

"I may be able to explain that. I'm not entirely sure yet and I need to speak to his doctor before I can really draw a conclusion but I found something interesting in the reports of the pathologist who examined Mr. Morris."

"Well", Mulder interrupted her impatiently. "And would you be so kind as to inform us what it was?"

"Sure. It seems like there was a temporary lack of oxygen in Mr. Morris brain. This is something that can be caused by anxiety. With vasovagal syncope, fear, pain, or sudden emotional changes can suddenly decrease the cardiac output and slow down the heart rate. The reduced oxygen supply to the brain results in syncope, or temporary loss of consciousness. Individuals usually regain consciousness within a few minutes and their prognosis is good, although the syncope has a tendency to recur."

Mulder nodded, bit his lip and then questioned: "So something scared him. Is that what you're saying?"

"This creature does look very frightening", officer Andrews interjected.

"What I'm saying is…", agent Scully quickly corrected her partner. "It is one option. As I said I don't want to jump to conclusions. But if Bob Morris suffered from vasovagal syncope his doctor probably knows about it."

Scully turned to Sheriff Westwood. "Who was his doctor?"

"That's easy we don't have that many. "It was Dr. Fuller I think."

"Alright, can you call him and ask him if he knows anything about this?"

"Of course", he took out his cell phone and left the room to call Dr. Fuller.

"What else can I do for you?", Andrews wanted to know.

"There have been several sightings of this creature, is that right?", Mulder inquired.

Andrews scratched his head, he didn't seem to like this question and he certainly didn't like to answer it.

"That's right", he said carefully. "But nobody could ever prove anything. So it might as well be a myth. You know? People want to be known, they try everything."

"So you don't believe in the Loveland Frog?"

"Don't get me wrong. I know what I saw, but I'm not one of those people who talk about it in each and every newspaper of the country. I just want to know what happened to Bob and Melinda Morris. That's all. I can't understand how people can camp at the side of the road just to see a frog-like creature that stands erected."  
Mulder was astonished. "They camp out there?"

"Yeah, because all the sightings take place in the middle of the night. So people drive out there and stay all night. It's dangerous. I mean look what happened, imagine if someone had been in a tent where Bobby and Melinda's car went down the embankment."

Mulder nodded understandingly while Westward came back in. He turned to him and asked: "Sheriff Westward, can you tell me where we can buy a tent?"


End file.
